New Disturbing Details Emerge from Josh Duggar's Multiple Scandals

By Jenny Erikson
CafeMom blog
June 24, 2019

https://thestir.cafemom.com/celebrities/220162/josh-duggar-scandal-disturbing-details


Well, this is upsetting. A former member of the Duggar family's church in the early 2000s has come forward with disturbing details about how the family allegedly handled Josh Duggar's molestation scandal when he was a teenager, and they're pretty horrifying. In 2015, a police report was uncovered that revealed that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's eldest child had allegedly molested four of his younger sisters and an underage family friend when he was a young teen.

The insider, who claims to have been a part of the church that met in the Duggar's home in the early 2000s, told the site that the family tried to cover up that Josh had confessed to molesting five young girls. The source explained, "Older men within the church immediately jumped in to help Jim Bob hide everything as much as possible. They all tried to hire lawyers to keep Josh's touching of younger girls under wraps."

The church members were allegedly told to keep quiet, and Jim Bob and Michelle reportedly tried "desperately" to "make sure no one ever heard about this."

The insider also suggested that Josh and Anna's marriage was arranged to "solve some of his problems."


The source shared, "Josh and Anna's relationship seemed pretty controlled and arranged ... Michelle and Jim Bob thought a relationship would solve some of his problems. That was common in our church."

The source also claimed that Anna wasn't made fully aware of his indiscretions. The former church member explained, "I think when Anna first met Josh she was very much under the impression that he was a strong, young man who hadn't done anything bad in a while. But he was still shady when he was courting Anna."

The shady behavior apparently involved him being extremely protective of his cellphone, and being upset when one of his younger siblings wanted to play with it. They said, "Josh got super anxious once when someone tried to grab his phone and pretend to make a call. He was very upset."


It's unclear if it's the same source or a second one, but the insider revealed that Josh's scandal resulted in the church shutting down. The former member confessed, "The only time I remember a kid getting publicly in trouble in the church was Josh. Josh's molestation scandal is burned into my memory because the church fell apart because of it. It was an emotional and confusing day."

The source also said that the punishment the church doled out to Josh was "awful," as "they shaved Josh's head in front of everyone." OK, that's just weird (what does hair have to do with sexual deviation?), but what's worse is apparently how they got Josh to agree to the public shaming. They allegedly told him that if he did not agree to the head-shaving, they would shave one of his victims' heads instead. He was also reportedly "forbidden from hanging out with any of the kids or playing games with them," and he "got in trouble a couple more times."

If this is how the church "helped" Josh "get better," it's no wonder that that wasn't the end of his sex scandals.


It was also revealed in 2015 that Josh had used the website Ashley Madison to cheat on his wife, Anna, who was at the time pregnant with their fourth child. She made the decision to stand by Josh's side as he entered an intensive rehab program for seven months. They have since added baby number five, and recently announced that they're expecting another little girl in November.

What Josh did as a teenager (not to mention what he did to Anna when he was a full-grown adult) was despicable, but how could his church think it's OK to punish one of his victims if he doesn't agree to have his head shaved in humiliation and shame? We just hope that's he's gotten some real help since then, and that he's on the straight and narrow and treating Anna right.